Solo Leveling wins Anime of the Year at the Anime Awards 2025

SJRB

SJRB

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It was either Frieren or Solo Leveling.

Some more categories:


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Frieren got robbed.

Haven't watched the anime of Solo Levelling but read the Manwha front to back. I understand the anime was popular but I fear it's for the wrong reasons. I fear people are just in it for the action set pieces and that will bleed into future anime just like Isekai slop is the norm.
 
If I had to pick between the two, I'm not sure I could. In terms of popularity though, it's clear that Solo wins. Even people I talk to who don't follow anime have heard about it
 
Heimdall_Xtreme said:
Is it normal that I like anime and its designs from the 80s to 2000 more than the current ones?
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Did you watch frieren? It's fucking amazing. So is solo leveling. I'm not an anime purist by any means by these were 2 of my favorite shows in the last decade.

Do you not like the fluidity in anime movement? Like hand drawn art way more? Theres definitely been some really bad computer generated anime art recently
 
Solo Leveling is so bad though. Shows like Frieren and even Make Heroine are way better.
Solo Leveling is huge amongst the casual audience though, so I get it.
 
I've learned that its best to just wait for shows to be over, most of these popular shit start good and end up average especially in the animation department. I expect Solo Leveling to suffer the same fate sooner than later once it gets milked enough.
 
I finished the first volume and was bored. The art was gorgeous, but the whole thing was clearly going to be just another OP protagonist story (and the fans seem to confirm this) and I'm beyond tired of anime doing that. Even if I say 2024 was a major step down in anime compared to the prior three years, there were still better choices they could have gone with.
 
Doom85 said:
I finished the first volume and was bored. The art was gorgeous, but the whole thing was clearly going to be just another OP protagonist story (and the fans seem to confirm this) and I'm beyond tired of anime doing that. Even if I say 2024 was a major step down in anime compared to the prior three years, there were still better choices they could have gone with.
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Which manga?
 
Werewolf Jones said:
Come watch some real anime with me that isn't on Crunchyroll.

If Ninja Kamui is the "best" original anime then this medium is truly in trouble.
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These awards mean jack shit most of the time, just a popularity contest. If you're basing your view of modern anime on these then you're already starting on a bad foot.
 
Werewolf Jones said:
Come watch some real anime with me that isn't on Crunchyroll.

If Ninja Kamui is the "best" original anime then this medium is truly in trouble.
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Ninja Kamui likely won due to more people seeing it, not because most people actually watched all the nominations and voted which of the five was best in their eyes.

Girls Band Cry is an impressive 8.3 rating on MAL (compared to Ninja Kamui's 6.6), so it would have been the winner if more people had watched it instead of having the usual basic "ew, 3D!" phobia even when the 3D is clearly well done. Jellyfish Can't Swim at Night was also ranked higher (7.7) than Ninja, as was Train to the End of the World (7.3).

Like, oh no, there was ONE year that wasn't filled to the top with bangers. Come on. 2021-2023 were packed with quality anime, heaven forbid one year take it easy in comparison.
 
Also, so Crunchyroll is back to actually having the awards cover the whole prior year properly, instead of that stupid "October of two years ago - September of last year" range they pulled on one of the awards years?

Donald Glover Reaction GIF


That was such a stupid move on their part. "But the recency bias!" Please, it far more screws over the shows in the October-December range because people won't associate it with the year they assume the awards would cover, and it makes them so far back they're likely to not be remembered as well. Keep it from January to December, period. The whole "but the judges need time!" was such a weak excuse, then delay the awards by a month or two if you have to, but making the eligible nomination range that confusing was stupid.
 
Based on the winner I'm going to asume these are mostly community voted?

Solo Leveling is pretty fun with plenty of action and nice production values. But it's as cookie cutter as it gets for a generic power fantasy, it's like One Punch man but without the humor and fun characters.
 
Frieren is absolutely top tier and deserves awards, but this looks like an extremely surface level fan's selection of anime. Was this primarily targeted to the west/Crunchyroll subscribers or something?
 
Pejo said:
Frieren is absolutely top tier and deserves awards, but this looks like an extremely surface level fan's selection of anime. Was this primarily targeted to the west/Crunchyroll subscribers or something?
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I wish Dandadan won lot more awards. I didn't watch the Awards Show but that anime deserved lot more than just best character designs
 
Totally forgot about delicious in dungeon. Another banger. I'll have to grab frieren and delicious mangas. I don't think I can wait that long to find out the story in those adventures
 
I usually watch one anime ever 3 or 4 years. I can't remember the last one I watched, but the one before that was One Punch Man, which was great.

I'll probably just wait to see what NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt 's favorite of the last decade is and watch that lol
 
I heard a lot then this happened so I watched 7 episodes of it before I couldn't handle any more. Unbelievably cringe show.
 
Dacvak said:
I usually watch one anime ever 3 or 4 years. I can't remember the last one I watched, but the one before that was One Punch Man, which was great.

I'll probably just wait to see what NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt 's favorite of the last decade is and watch that lol
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Dude last decade was safe as fuck. There was some good anime during that decade but I felt stuff was too safe for my liking and that because they choose to go after the global audience. They are finally going back to making stuff that is distinctively Japanese

But here's some reccomandations from the last decade

Made In The Abyss Season 1
Made In Abyss Dawn of The Deep Soul
Made In Abyss Season 2

(For Made In Abyss, watch it in that order)

Also Made In Abyss is really messed up so just a warning

My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai
Kids on the Slope
Fire Force
Rent-A-Girfriend (Giggles)
Erased
The Future Diary
Heavenly Delusion
Cyberpunk 2077 Edgerunners (Fanservice Heavy)
Highschool of the Dead (Fanservice Heavy)
Love Is War
My Dress Up Darling
Summertime Render
Rebuild of EVA
Weathering With You
Your Name
Wolf Children
The Boy And The Beast
 
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Slow year, huh? I've watched (at least part of) 5 of the 6 shows nominated for AOTY.

Solo Leveling was generic, bland slop I gave one episode to before dropping like a hot potato. If the show really does get good, that first episode does a bad sell. It felt fundamentally bad though.
Dandadan I've complained about before. Fantastic production values and from a passionate team for a show that's let down by consistently abysmal source material.
Frieren is still mid af and I have yet to determine why it's loved by so many. 'New anime fans' I can see, but there are older ones too that swear by it and I just don't see it.
Delicious Dungeon is the one show I didn't watch although I'm biased against Trigger shows - the only one I've liked is the Cyberpunk spinoff; Promare, Kill la Kill, and their Star Wars short were all weak)
Kaiju #8 is the first show on the list I'd call decent among those options but it's more in the realm of 'this was a good seasonal show; I'll def check out the sequel'. Didn't feel like AOTY material. A little tough for me to gauge though since this was a show I did a group watch with friends, and I always get a lot out of those (unless the show's really bad, which Kaiju isn't!)
Apothecary Diaries is the real best show among the nominees. Great cast, fun political web. I have a problem with how a major plot point was resolved that has me sticking an asterisk next to the show whenever I recommend it, but it's so good outside of that that I don't let it stop me or my enthusiasm.

I didn't go through all the categories, but browsing the winners I'm reminded I still haven't watched Look Back. Read/watch of that is on my to do list. Fujimoto has not let me down in Fire Punch or part 1 of Chainsaw Man, and I've heard nothing but good things.
 
These winners put everything into perspective for me when it comes to this awards show.

It's Geoff Keighley's TGAs in anime form, basically a summary of what the general public liked the most in the past year with a slight sprinkle of shows a deeper anime fan might like. Nothing wrong with that as casual fans can look at this, check out some easily digestible content, and enjoy.
 
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i mean what does anime of the year mean?

does it mean what was the highest quality or the one that was most relevant.

Solo Leveling actually made it into the mainstream and made anime relevant, I'd say it's pretty clear that irrespective of personal judgement Solo Leveling was the anime of the year.

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me and my friend had talked about Solo Leveling. we both agree it's a very good trash show. it's your run of the mill I'm too strong and I have to hide my power kinda story, but they put a lot of heart into it and did a great job. it's very good junk food but junk food nonetheless.
 
Doom85 said:
I approve of your new avatar.

Will Smith Yes GIF by Bad Boys
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the-herta-herta.gif


Madam Herta is a peerless gem. Madam Herta is an unrivaled genius. Madam Herta is an inimitable beauty.

Doom85 said:
Man, in certain modes with large groups of enemies, 5 star Herta and 4 star Herta working together is just crazy good.
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For real! I only got her a few days ago from the rerun banner, and I'm using her with 4* Herta, Bronya and Gallagher, and like you said their combo works really well against groups of 3+ enemies. Unfortunately I have few limited units since I started just 1.5 months ago, so I'm using F2P ones to support the current premium DPS units I've gotten so far (Acheron, Castorice and The Herta). I also pulled her Light Cone yesterday, although it was a pain since I lost the 75/25, and even though I got it, it ate through the rest of my pulls. :lollipop_pensive:

Tbh, I didn't expect for her banner to rerun so soon, so it caught me a bit off guard. On her future rerun, I'll try to get her E2 since she's one of, if not my fav HSR characters. Anyways, I'll be keeping it short and say that I really enjoy my time with HSR, and currently I'm into saving mode for my man Phainon. :messenger_sunglasses:
 
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